Charles Darwin
Footage From the Scopes Monkey Trial

Footage from the Scopes Monkey Trial

One of the landmark American legal cases of the twentieth century, the Scopes Monkey trial was one in which teacher John Thomas Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, a law which forbade the teaching of human evolution in any state-funded school. The highly publicized trial gained national attention … Continue reading

Scopes Trial
‘The Trial Took Place in a Circus Atmosphere’

7834797860_26cd9c22e8

In an old newsreel, a reporter outlines the basic facts of the Scopes Monkey Trial and talks about how the trial attracted a lot of publicity. The Scopes Trial took place in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee and revolved around the topic of evolution versus creationism. A substitute teacher named John … Continue reading

Scopes Trial
The Face-Off Between Clarence Darrow & William Jennings Bryan

220px-WilliamJBryan1902

Eloise Reed, resident of Dayton, Tennessee and present during the Scopes Trial of 1925, explains the face-off that occurred between defense attorney Clarence Darrow and prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. Darrow, a well-known criminal lawyer and agnostic, called Bryan–a fundamentalist Christian and leader of the Democratic Party–to the witness stand during … Continue reading

Scopes Trial
The Significance of the ‘Monkey Trial’

Screen shot 2014-07-03 at 11.53.51 AM

David Menton, a creation scientist with a Ph.D in cell biology, analyzes the significance of the 1925 Scopes Trial, also known as the “Monkey Trial.” John Scopes, a teacher from a small town in Tennessee, was put on trial for teaching the theory of evolution in a state where laws … Continue reading